U.S. patent number 6,327,953 [Application Number 09/327,818] was granted by the patent office on 2001-12-11 for device for storing projectile balls and for feeding them to the projectile chamber of a hand weapon.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Armatec GmbH & CIE. KG. Invention is credited to Heddies Andresen.
United States Patent |
6,327,953 |
Andresen |
December 11, 2001 |
**Please see images for:
( Certificate of Correction ) ** |
Device for storing projectile balls and for feeding them to the
projectile chamber of a hand weapon
Abstract
A device for storing projectile balls and for feeding them to
the projectile chamber of a hand weapon (1), with a ball container
(3), with a conveying tube (2) which is connected at one end to the
latter and the other end of which leads to the weapon (1), and with
a conveyor for conveying a continuous row of balls out of the ball
container (3) into the conveying tube, wherein the conveying tube
(2) is designed as a flexible long conveying hose and the ball
container (3) is provided with a carrying fixture (12) independent
of the weapon.
Inventors: |
Andresen; Heddies (Quickborn,
DE) |
Assignee: |
Armatec GmbH & CIE. KG
(Hamburg, DE)
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Family
ID: |
7908282 |
Appl.
No.: |
09/327,818 |
Filed: |
June 8, 1999 |
Foreign Application Priority Data
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May 17, 1999 [DE] |
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199 22 589 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
124/45; 89/34; 89/33.02;
124/48; 124/52; 42/50 |
Current CPC
Class: |
F41A
9/02 (20130101); F41B 11/53 (20130101); F41B
11/57 (20130101); F41A 9/73 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
F41A
9/73 (20060101); F41B 11/00 (20060101); F41A
9/00 (20060101); F41A 9/02 (20060101); F41B
11/02 (20060101); F41A 009/02 () |
Field of
Search: |
;89/34,33.02,33.17
;42/50,1.02 ;124/72,82,45,48,52,53 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
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3721527 C2 |
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May 1989 |
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DE |
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43 43 870 A1 |
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Jun 1994 |
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DE |
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WO 98/13660 |
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Apr 1998 |
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WO |
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Other References
English abstract of German reference DE 43 43 870 A1..
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Primary Examiner: Johnson; Stephen M.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Alix, Yale & Ristas, LLP
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A device for storing projectile balls and for feeding them to
the projectile chamber of a hand weapon comprising a ball container
with a conveying tube which is connected at one end to the ball
container and the other end of which is readable to the weapon and
with a conveyor for conveying a continuous row of balls out of the
ball container into the conveying tube, wherein the conveyor
maintains a conveying force which is exerted constantly on the row
of balls and which conveying force is transmitted by a spring
means, the conveying tube comprises a flexible conveying hose that
is elastic in a longitudinal direction and the spring means is
formed at least partially from elastic deformation of the conveying
hose under the conveying force exerted on the row of balls by the
conveyor and the ball container is independent of the weapon and is
provided with a carrying fixture for carrying the ball container
independent of the weapon.
2. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said spring means has
a spring excursion and the spring excursion of said spring means is
at least as great as the diameter of a ball.
3. The device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the spring means is
formed at least partially by a spring provided on the conveyor.
4. The device as claimed in claim 1, and further comprising a
projectile weapon having a breech, wherein the row of balls leads
constantly, without any gap, from the conveyor to the breech of the
weapon.
5. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the conveyor is
equipped with an independent energy supply.
6. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the conveyor is
provided with a conveying motor and a means for switching the
conveying motor on and off when the conveying force or the spring
excursion falls short of or exceeds a specific value.
7. The device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising at least
one additional ball container, wherein the ball container or the
conveyor or the conveying hose is provided with a connecting
orifice for the connection of the outlet of the at least one
additional ball container.
8. The device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a plurality
of ball containers, wherein said plurality of ball containers are
connected in parallel.
9. The device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the balls elastically
deform under compression and the spring means is formed at least
partially from elastic deformation of the row of balls under the
conveying force exerted on the row of balls by the conveyor.
10. The device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the conveyor includes
a spring, the balls elastically deform under compression and the
spring means is formed from energy stored in an elastically
deformed conveying tube, and elastically deformed row of balls and
a compressed conveyor spring.
11. A device for storing projectile balls and for feeding them to
the projectile chamber of a hand weapon, said device
comprising:
at least one ball container provided with a carrying fixture
permitting the ball container to be carried independent of the
weapon;
a flexible conveying hose which is connected at one end to the ball
container and the other end of which is leadable to the weapon;
and
a conveyor for conveying a continuous row of balls out of the ball
container into the conveying hose, wherein the conveyor
comprises:
a generally planar bottom face;
a generally circular wall having an inner surface and an outlet
orifice connected to said conveying hose; and
a rotor arranged parallel with said bottom face and concentric with
said wall and having a direction of rotation about an axis of
rotation, said rotor having a circumference and a plurality of
radial projections from the circumference which define ball spaces
bounded by said projections and said wall inner surface, each said
projection having a driving face projecting from the bottom side of
said rotor, each said driving face being radially and axially
inclined so that a ball received in a said ball space is pressed
axially against said bottom face and radially outwardly against
said inside surface during rotation of said rotor.
12. The device as claimed in claim 11, wherein the driving face is
formed by a freely rotatable roller.
13. The device as claimed in claim 11, wherein a receiving cell,
the width of which is considerably greater than the extent of a
ball, is provided above that part of the conveyor which forms the
driving face.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In sports weapons with spherical ammunition, so-called paintballs,
a magazine container is usually placed onto the weapon above the
projectile chamber, the individual balls being fed out of the
magazine container to the projectile chamber as a result of the
effect of gravity, by means of compressed air or by mechanical
conveying means (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,816,232, 5,282,454, 5,794,606,
DE-U-83 14 931, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,097,816, 5,511,333, 5,736,720,
WO98/13660, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,063,905, 3,788,298, 5,505,188, DE-C-37
21 527, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,771,875, 1,403,719, 1,743,576, 3,695,246,
5,282,454, 1,404,689). In these, the size of the magazine is
disadvantageously restricted, because the weapon has to remain
easily maneuverable. The object on which the invention is based is
to provide a magazine loading device which overcomes this
disadvantage. Launching appliances for play balls (U.S. Pat. Nos.
3,844,267, 4,207,857, 3,248,008, 3,610,223, 3,867,921, 4,027,646)
have a stationary design and therefore cannot give any suggestion
as to how the moveability of a sports weapon, despite being
equipped with a large magazine, can be improved.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, a ball container forming the magazine is provided,
independently of the weapon, and is equipped with a carrying
fixture which makes it possible to carry said ball container, for
example, on the belt, on the back or in any other desired place.
The balls are transported from the ball container to the weapon by
means of a long flexible conveying hose which does not obstruct the
maneuverability of the weapon.
For conveying the balls from the ball container to the weapon,
known techniques may be adopted, for example compressed-air
conveyance, if the container is equipped with a compression-air
accumulator or the conveyor hose is connected to a compressed-air
line which leads compressed gas from the weapon to the magazine. In
general, however, it is more expedient to use a mechanical conveyor
which obtains its drive energy from an energy accumulator, for
example an electric battery, which is independent of the weapon and
is arranged near the magazine. This avoids the need, between the
weapon and the magazine, for additional connections which make the
arrangement complicated and susceptible to faults and also make it
more difficult for the magazine and conveying arrangement to be
adaptable to different weapon systems.
In order to make a high rate of fire possible, it is necessary to
ensure that the projectile chamber of the weapon is filled with a
new ball again immediately after a shot has been fired. If this is
to be carried out solely by the conveyor remote from the weapon,
the conveyor motor must have a very high power rating. It is
therefore more expedient, according to the invention, to have an
arrangement in which the conveyor is designed to maintain a
conveying force which is exerted constantly on the row of balls and
which is transmitted via a spring means, the spring excursion of
which is at least as great as the diameter of a ball. This ensures
that, when the projectile chamber is being emptied and opened, the
next ball is pressed into the projectile chamber immediately as a
result of the effect of the spring force, without this operation
being directly dependent on the power output of the conveyor motor.
The spring means may be selected to have a spring excursion such
that, in the case of a rapid rate of fire, the projectile chamber
can be refilled several times in succession solely by means of the
spring effect.
For this purpose, a special spring may be provided in the conveying
means. Instead, it is also possible for the elasticity of the hose
and/or of the row of balls between the conveyor and the weapon to
be utilized in order to form the spring means. The overall spring
effect may also be composed of the individual effects of a spring
provided in the conveying means, of the hose and of the row of
balls.
In order to keep the size of the energy accumulator serving for
driving the conveyor motor small, it is expedient to switch off the
motor during firing intermissions. This is known (U.S. Pat. No.
5,816,232). In the known arrangement, the row of balls is fed by a
positive-drive conveyor to a fall zone, the lower end of which
opens out in the projectile chamber of the weapon. As soon as the
fall zone is filled, the motor is switched off. When a sensor
detects that a gap has occurred in the fall zone due to the
consumption of balls, the motor is switched on again, in order to
fill this gap by the reconveyance of balls. The need for a sensor
provided in the fall zone makes the arrangement more complicated.
Moreover, on the assumption that, according to the invention, the
magazine is arranged remotely from the weapon, the sensor signal
would have to be supplied to the conveying system remote from the
weapon. The abovementioned spring effect for refeeding balls into
the projectile chamber makes it possible to dispense with this
complicated arrangement, in that the switching off and on of the
motor is made dependent on the state of the spring force. If the
spring force (or the spring travel as a measure of the spring
force) falls below a predetermined threshold because balls have
been consumed, the motor is switched on again. The latter runs
until a predetermined threshold of the spring force or of the
spring travel is exceeded.
The measuring means necessary for this purpose are very simple. If
a special spring is used in conjunction with the conveying means,
it can easily be detected, by the means of two limit switches, when
the deflection of the spring exceeds or falls short of a specific
value. Likewise, it can easily be detected, by means of pressure
sensors, when the spring exceeds or falls short of a specific force
threshold. If a spring is not provided, the force threshold can
easily be measured on the element which exerts the conveying force
on the row of balls. If this is the rotor described further below,
it is possible, for example, to evaluate the torque of the rotor
shaft. Finally, there is the possibility of using the current
consumption of the motor as a signal for the conveying force
generated by it. Electronic circuits, which may be used for
evaluating the signals mentioned and for switching the motor on and
off, are generally known and therefore do not need to be described.
So that the spring force does not decrease due to the drive
mechanism running in reverse after the motor has been switched off,
said drive mechanism is expediently designed to be self-locking.
This is normally the case when a gearing is provided between the
motor and the member which transmits the conveying force to the row
of balls.
Although the ball container of the device according to the
invention can have virtually any desired size, it may be desirable,
for practical reasons, to have size variability. This may be
brought about not only by keeping containers of different size
ready, but also by connecting a further or a plurality of further
ball containers to an existing container or conveyor or conveying
hose. For example, a first ball container may be provided with an
inlet orifice, to which the outlet of a second ball container,
likewise provided with a conveyor, is connected, so that the second
ball container fills up the first, as required. On the other hand,
there may be provision for connecting the plurality of ball
containers in parallel, that is to say for having the possibility
of feeding balls simultaneously.
According to a further feature of the invention, the ball container
and/or the conveyor may be provided with a counting and indicating
means, in order to indicate the number of consumed balls and/or
balls still remaining. Indication is expediently digital. An
indication of the charging state of the battery and/or the
remaining playing time may also be provided.
It is known (U.S. Pat. No. 5,816,232) to use, for conveying the
balls, a conveying rotor which rotates in a cylindrical housing
part and which has, on the circumference, a row of projections
which form, in each case with adjacent projections and the wall,
conveying spaces for one ball each. The wall contains an outlet
orifice, to which a conveying channel is connected. When the rotor
rotates, the balls contained in the conveying spaces arrive in
succession at the passage and are pressed through the latter into
the conveying channel. The emptied conveying spaces are filled up,
under the effect of gravity, from the ball supply located above
them. The balls are transferred from the conveying spaces into the
outlet orifice provided in the wall, in that there is arranged on
the bottom of the container a stationary guide wall, with which the
balls come into contact below the projections of the rotor. This
arrangement is effective only when the balls are prevented from
sliding over and beyond the wall. This purpose is served by a
housing wall which, however, has the disadvantage that it may
happen that a ball not lying correctly in a conveying space is
jammed between the free edge of the housing wall and a rotor
projection and thereby blocks conveyance.
The invention eliminates this problem, in that the rotor
projections turn the associated ball toward driving faces which are
inclined relative to the circumferential direction and to the
radial direction in such a way that the driven ball is pressed
against a bottom face parallel to the rotor plane and against the
wall and into an outlet orifice which is contained in the wall and
which is connected to the conveying hose. Solely as a result of the
interaction of the oblique driving faces with the balls, the latter
are held in bearing contact on the bottom and on the wall and are
pressed into the outlet orifice as soon as the latter is reached.
In order to reduce friction, the driving face may be formed by a
freely rotatable roller.
In order to make it easier for the balls to enter the conveying
spaces, a surface portion of the projections which is not inclined
relative to the radius may be provided above each driving face. The
conveying spaces are thereby preceded by receiving cells, into
which the balls can fall more easily from the supply and by which
they are then guided to the conveying spaces, without being impeded
by increased wall friction.
The movement of the balls into the conveying spaces may take place
under the effect of gravity if the axial arrangement of the rotor
is vertical. If the intention is to be independent of gravity, so
that the functioning of the conveyor can be ensured when the ball
container is in any position, the ball supply above the rotor is
expediently prestressed toward the rotor by means of a spring
force. Insofar as the above explanation stated that the preceding
cells are arranged above the conveying spaces or that the ball
supply is located above the rotor, this relates to the vertical
arrangement, with the rotor provided at the bottom. If the
intention is to ensure that the conveyor functions even in a
position which is not vertical or is vertically reversed, a spring
may be provided, which prestresses the ball supply toward the rotor
via a spring plate.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention is explained in more detail with reference to the
drawing which illustrates an advantageous exemplary embodiment and
in which:
FIG. 1 shows the device according to the invention during use,
FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the ball container and the conveyor,
partially in section and partly in schematic,
FIG. 3 shows a cross section through the ball container, with the
viewing direction toward the conveyor,
FIG. 4 shows a part longitudinal section through the ball container
together with the conveyor,
FIGS. 5 to 7 show cross sections through the ball container in the
region of the conveyor at different operating stages,
FIGS. 8 and 9 show part longitudinal sections through the conveyor
on a larger scale,
FIG. 10 shows a part cross section through the conveyor on a larger
scale,
FIG. 11 shows a diagrammatic illustration of a rotary coupling with
a spring means and with sensing of the spring excursion, and
FIGS. 12 and 13 show coupled arrangements of two ball
containers.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
According to FIG. 1, a shooter uses a weapon 1, for example an air
gun for so-called paintballs, which is connected, via a flexible
conveying hose 2, to the ball container 3 containing the ammunition
balls. These are conveyed in a continuous row, via the conveyor
described later, through the conveying hose 2 to the projectile
chamber of the gun 1. At the same time, they are under a spring
force, so that, whenever a ball is fired and the empty projectile
chamber opens, a new ball is pressed out of the conveying hose 2 or
out of the weapon channel, followed by the outlet end of the
conveying hose 2, into the projectile chamber. The ball container 3
is fastened to the shooter's belt 4.
According to FIG. 2, the ball container 3 is designed cylindrically
and is provided with a closing cover 5 which is connected via a
diagrammatically indicated compression spring 6 to a pressure plate
7. The latter, under the effect of the spring 6, presses the
container content away from the open container end, closed by the
cover 5, toward the other end of said container. Located at this
other end is the conveyor 8 which is indicated merely
diagrammatically in FIG. 2 and which conveys the balls into the
outlet channel 9 of the ball container 3, said outlet channel being
connected to the inlet end of the conveying hose 2. The conveyor 8
is driven by an electric motor 10 via a coupling 11 to be described
later. The motor 10 is driven by a battery, not illustrated, which
is provided at a suitable point in the container 3. The container
can be hung on the shooter's belt 4 by means of hooks 12. Moreover,
a coupling means 13 may be provided for the selective attachment of
the container to the weapon.
The spring plate 7 ensures that the balls contained in the
container are fed to the conveyor 8 in any position of the
container 3.
According to FIGS. 3 and 4, the conveyor 8 is formed by a disk 20
which is arranged concentrically in a cylindrical part 21 of the
container 3 on a shaft 22 and which is driven in rotation in the
direction of the arrow 28 by means of the motor 10. The disk 20
turns a plane or curved surface 23 toward the container space 13.
The disk 20 carries, on its circumference, a ring of projections 24
and recesses 25 which are located between these and which form with
the inner face 26 receiving cells for balls 27 which are larger
than the balls. Under the effect of gravity or of the spring plate
7, the balls 27 therefore pass easily into these cells and are
received by them.
As shown in FIG. 8, the edge 31 of the receiving cells 25 which is
located at the rear in the direction of rotation 30 may be beveled
in such a way that said edge urges the ball 27 falling into a
receiving cell further downward in the direction of the arrow 32.
This is also assisted by the relative movement in relation to the
stationary balls which are located above it and one of which is
indicated at 33.
The function of the receiving cells 25 is purely to receive the
balls easily and feed them to the conveying members explained
later. It has no conveying function itself. Its size may be freely
dimensioned solely from the standpoint that the balls easily find
their way into the receiving cells and are easily transferred
downward by them. So that those balls which are not located in the
outer region of the container, but further inward radially, can
also be caught, the receiving cells may be widened inward, as
indicated by dashes and dots in FIG. 3 at 34, the region 35 between
the dashed and dotted line 34 and the edge of the receiving cell 25
being capable of being designed to descend obliquely relative to
the receiving cell, in such a way that the balls are guided into
the desired radially outer position, in which they can be picked up
by the conveying members. Instead of the oblique face 35 on the
disk 20, there may also be provision for prolonging the open cross
section of the receiving cells 25 radially inward along the line 34
and for providing a corresponding oblique face on a base 39 below
the disk 20. Oblique faces on the base 39 and on the disk 20 may
also be provided so as to complement one another.
When a ball is caught by a receiving cell 25 and is guided downward
in the direction of the arrow 32 (FIG. 8), it finally passes onto
the bottom 40 which runs parallel to the disk 20 or perpendicularly
to the shaft 22. In this position, the ball comes into contact with
a roller 41 which is mounted freely rotatably on a bearing journal
42 fastened to the disk 20 perpendicularly to the latter. Each
projection 24 of the disk is provided with such a bearing journal
42 and with a roller 41. The lower face of the disk 20 is so high
above the bottom 40 and the rollers 41 are arranged so near the
edge 31 of the receiving cells 25 that the balls are picked up
reliably by the rollers 41 and do not remain in contact with the
fixed edge 31 of the receiving cells 25.
The axes of rotation of the rollers 41 are somewhat further away
from the inner face 26 of the wall 21 than corresponds to the
radius 43 of the balls. The radius of their circle of rotation 44
is therefore smaller by the amount 45 than the radius of the circle
of rotation 46 of the center points of the balls 27 when these bear
both on the bottom 40 and on the inner face 26 of the wall 21 (FIG.
10). The tangent to the (theoretically punctiform) face of contact
49 of the roller 41 with the radius therefore forms an accurate
angle alpha. The direction of the conveying force 48 exerted by the
roller 41 on the associated ball 27 does not run in the
circumferential direction, but has an outwardly directed component,
by means of which the ball 27 is held in bearing contact on the
inner face 26 of the wall 21.
A further obliquity of the face of contact 49 ensures that the
balls 27, when they are in the conveying position (FIGS. 9 and 10),
are always held in contact with the bottom 40. Specifically, the
surface 47 of the roller 41 is designed conically, so that the face
of contact 49 does not run vertically, but, in the section
according to FIG. 9, is inclined a little downward and rearward at
the angle beta. Consequently, the conveying force 48 exerted on the
ball 27 contains a component which is directed downward towards the
bottom 40 and by means of which the ball is pressed against the
bottom.
The conveying position of the balls is thereby determined in the
simplest, most reliable and most accurate way, specifically, on the
one hand, by the bottom face 40 and the circumferential face 26
and, on the other hand, by the roller 41. This applies,
irrespective of any tolerances in the position of the roller 41,
insofar as the geometric conditions mentioned above are satisfied.
The conveying device according to the invention therefore works
very reliably and with a low level of faults.
The face of contact 49 does not necessarily have to be formed by a
roller 41; instead, it may also be arranged fixedly on the disk 20.
However, the design as a roller surface has the advantage that
friction is reduced. Specifically, the balls 27 pressed against the
bottom 40 and wall face 26 tend to roll on these faces. If the face
of contact 47 is formed by a roller surface, it can participate in
this movement, without impeding it. At the same time, it is
particularly advantageous if the roller 41 is arranged in such a
way that its axis of rotation runs parallel to that of the
associated ball 27, that is to say at about 45.degree. to the
bottom face 40; however, an appreciable reduction in friction is
also achieved even when the roller axis 42 is positioned
differently from this ideal direction for the sake of simpler
production.
In order to ensure that the balls passing out of the receiving
cells into the conveying position travel sufficiently far radially
outward, the base 39 may be provided with a corresponding
circumferential face 38, of which the distance from the inner face
26 of the wall 21 is such that the balls 27 do not touch the face
38 when they are in the conveying position.
The outlet channel 9 follows the wall 21 tangentially, in such a
way that the center axis 50 of said outlet channel forms a tangent
to the center point path 46 of the balls. Moreover, the outlet
channel 9 follows the bottom 40 continuously.
The components of the conveying force 48 which were explained above
with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10 and which are directed toward the
wall face 26 and the bottom 40 ensure that the balls 27 approaching
the outlet channel come into exact alignment with the latter (more
precisely: with the line of which the distance from the outer and
lower wall of the outlet duct is equal to the ball radius) and,
finally, are pushed into said outlet channel. The latter occurrence
becomes clear from a consideration of the position sequence
illustrated in FIGS. 5 to 7. In FIG. 5, the ball 27a has reached,
on its center point path 46, the center line 50 of the outlet
channel 9. In the course of its movement (FIGS. 6 and 7), it no
longer follows the center point path 46, but, instead, the center
line 50. At the same time, the angle alpha, explained with
reference to FIG. 10, increases constantly, as does, consequently,
the radially outward-directed force component exerted on the ball
by the associated conveying roller. With all the greater
reliability, the ball is held on the path which guides it into the
outlet channel. This can be seen clearly from a consideration of
the relative position of the balls 27b in FIGS. 5 and 6. Due to the
geometric conditions, the conveying speed of the ball 27b decreases
in this path segment. Consequently, the distance of said ball from
the ball 27a following it decreases it, until said distance
disappears at the stage of FIG. 7 and a continuous row of balls
conveyed through the outlet channel 9 and into the conveying hose 2
is obtained.
The height of the surface 23 of the disk 20 above the bottom 40 is
not appreciably smaller or is even a little greater than the
diameter of the balls 27, in order to reduce the resistance which
the stationary balls exert on the balls moved through under them
and located in the conveying position.
Provided on the container wall, a generous ball diameter above the
surface 23 of the disk 20, is an annually continuous collar 60
which forms a brake for the balls pressing forward from above and
which, above all, relieves those balls which are located above the
disk 20 adjacently to the container wall and above the row of balls
located in the conveyor. This, too, is a means of reducing the
resistance exerted on the moved balls by the stationary balls.
So that the receiving cell 51 (FIG. 3) just emptied in to the
conveying channel 9 is not refilled prematurely, which under
specific conditions could lead to complications, this is prevented
by the provision of a filler piece 52 which is fixed to the
housing. Only when the cell 51 has passed the filler piece 52
completely can it be refilled. The filler piece 52 has no function
in guiding the balls 27 into the outlet channel 9. This is because
they are held in bearing contact on the radially outer face of the
conveying channel by the outwardly directed component of the
conveying force 48 and therefore cannot touch the filler piece
52.
As mentioned above, in order to achieve as high a rate of fire as
possible, it is necessary that the ball appearing directly at the
breech of the projectile chamber of the weapon be under the
conveying force and be moved into the projectile chamber
immediately after the latter is opened. This conveying force and
conveying movement may be furnished directly by the conveyor
described and its drive, if the row of balls and the conveying hose
are imagined as being inelastic. For this purpose, however, the
motor would have to be of very high power in order to overcome the
inertia forces and be switched on constantly, even when a conveying
movement is not taking place. This is highly energy-consuming.
There is therefore provision for switching off the motor as soon as
conveyance is not necessary, and a spring means is provided which
maintains the conveying force and generates the conveying movement.
In a simplest case, this spring means is formed by the conveying
hose and/or the row of balls. Under the conveying force, the hose
is deflected elastically and generates a return force corresponding
to the conveying force. The balls located in the conveying row are
correspondingly pressed together elastically by the conveying
force. When the sum of the elastic elongation of the hose and the
elastic compression of the row of balls is greater than at least
one ball diameter, they can cause the ball which appears to be
transferred into the projectile chamber as a result of elastic
contraction or expansion, even when the motor is not switched on.
The same also applies to a plurality of balls in succession, if the
elongation of the hose or the compression of the row of balls is
correspondingly high.
As a result there is sufficient conveying force available even for
a relatively large burst of fire, the motor must start up
immediately, as required. This is carried out by measuring the
torque occurring on the shaft 22 of the conveyor, said torque being
proportional to the conveying force prevailing in the row of balls.
According to the invention, the coupling 11 may be designed for
measuring this torque and signal the fact that the torque has
fallen short of a predetermined torque threshold to the electronics
which control the motor and which thereupon switch the motor on.
Conversely, they switch the motor off when the coupling 11
communicates the fact that a predetermined torque threshold has
been exceeded.
If the elasticity of the hose and of the row of balls is not
sufficient for forming the spring reserve, a special spring means
is provided in the construction, which may be arranged, for
example, in the coupling 11 and, diagrammatically, is designed as
shown in FIG. 11. The inner coupling part 52 is driven in the
direction of the arrow by the motor 10. The outer coupling part 53
mounted concentrically thereto is connected to the shaft 22 of the
conveyor. The two coupling parts 52, 53 have stops 54, 55 which are
located opposite one another in the circumferential direction and
between which a compression spring 56 acts. The latter is
compressed as a result of the rotation of the driving coupling part
52 and by the resistance of the row of balls. One of the coupling
parts (the outer coupling part in the case illustrated) is provided
with contacts or limit switches 57, 58 and the other coupling part
is provided with a boss 59 which co-operates with these. When a
particular length of the spring 56 is exceeded and, consequently,
when the torque acting between the coupling parts falls short of a
threshold value, the contact 57 is closed. Its signal causes the
motor to be started up. The spring 57 is thereby compressed, and
the boss 59 moves away from the contact 57, whilst approaching the
contact 58. As soon as a limit torque is reached, which corresponds
to the desired conveying force, the contact 58 is activated and
causes the motor to be switched off. When, as a result of a burst
of fire, conveyance takes place, as a result of which the energy of
the spring 56 is consumed and the latter is elongated, the motor is
switched on when the conveying force threshold defined by the
position of the contact 57 is reached. If a starting delay is to be
expected in the motor, the contact 57 is positioned in such a way
that the spring 56 still makes a sufficient force reserve
available, even below this threshold.
FIG. 12 shows the possibility of combining another ball container
3a with a primary ball container 3. The conveyor of the other ball
container 3a conveys the balls located in it, via a hose 61, into a
receiving orifice 62 provided on the ball container 3.
In the embodiment of FIG. 13, the two ball containers 3, 3a are
connected in parallel and convey the balls into the conveying hose
2 directly or via a hose 61.
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